When India achieved independence in 1947, it was primarily an agrarian entity, with a weak industrial base. There were only eighteen state-owned Indian Ordnance Factories, previously established to reduce the dependency of the British Indian Army on imported arms.^[2]

The British Raj had previously elected to leave agricultural production to the Private sector, with tea processing firms, Jute mills (such as the Acland Mill), railways, electricity utilities, banks, coal mines, and steel mills being just some of the economic entities largely owned by private individuals like the industrialist Jamsetji Tata. Other entities were listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.^[3]

Critics of private ownership of India’s agricultural and industrial entities—most notably Mahatma Gandhi’s independence movement—instead advocated for a self-sufficient, largely agrarian, communal village-based existence for India in the first half of the 20th century.^[4][5] Other contemporary criticisms of India’s public sector targeted the lack of well-funded schools, public libraries, universities, hospitals and medical and engineering colleges; a lack seen as impeding an Indian replication of Britain’s own industrialization in the previous century.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

Post-Independence, the national consensus turned in favor of rapid industrialisation of the economy, a process seen as the key to economic development, improved living standards and economic sovereignty.^[11] Building upon the Bombay Plan, which noted the necessity of government intervention and regulation in the economy, the first Industrial Policy Resolution announced in 1948 laid down in broad strokes such a strategy of industrial development. Later, the Planning Commission was formed by a cabinet resolution in March 1950 and the Industrial (Development and Regulation) Act was enacted in 1951 with the objective of empowering the government to take necessary steps to regulate industry.^[12]

The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, promoted an economic policy based on import substitution industrialisation and advocated a mixed economy.^[13] He believed that the establishment of basic and heavy industry was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. India's second five year plan (1956–60) and the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 emphasized the development of public sector enterprises to meet Nehru's national industrialisation policy. His vision was carried forward by Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, a figure known as the "Father of Public sector undertakings in India". Indian statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis was instrumental to its formulation, which was later termed the Feldman–Mahalanobis model.^[14][15]

In 1969, Indira Gandhi's government nationalised fourteen of India's largest private banks, and an additional six in 1980. This government-led industrial policy, with corresponding restrictions on private enterprise, was the dominant pattern of Indian economic development until the 1991 Indian economic crisis.^[12] After the crisis, the government began divesting its ownership of several PSUs to raise capital and privatize companies facing poor financial performance and low efficiency.^[16][17]

All of the public sector undertakings have been awarded additional financial autonomy. These units are government establishments that have comparative advantages", giving them greater autonomy to compete in the global market so as to "support [them] in their drive to become global giants".^[18] Financial autonomy was initially awarded to nine PSUs as Navratna status in 1997.^[19] Originally, the term Navaratna meant a talisman composed of nine precious gems. Later, this term was adopted in the courts of Gupta emperor Vikramaditya and Mughal emperor Akbar, as the collective name for nine extraordinary courtiers at their respective courts.

In 2010, the central government established the higher Maharatna category, which raises a public sector unit's investment ceiling from ₹1,000 crore to ₹5,000 crore.^[20] The Maharatna public sector units can now decide on investments of up to 15 per cent of their net worth in a project while the Navaratna companies could invest up to ₹1,000 crore without explicit government approval. Two categories of Miniratnas afford less extensive financial autonomy.

Guidelines for awarding Ratna^[21] status are as follows:

PSUs in India are also categorised based on their special non-financial objectives and are registered under Section 8 of Companies Act, 2013 (erstwhile Section 25 of Companies Act, 1956).

Public Sector Units (PSUs) can be classified as Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), Public Sector Banks (PSBs), or State Level Public Enterprises (SLPEs). CPSEs are administered by the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), Ministry of Finance is the nodal department for all the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).

As of October 2021, there are 11 Maharatnas, 13 Navratnas and 73 Miniratnas (divided into Category 1 and Category 2).^[24][25]

List of Maharatna CPSUsEdit

1. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)
2. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)
3. Coal India Limited (CIL)
4. Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)
5. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)
6. Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL)
7. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
8. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)
9. Power Grid Corporation of India(PGCIL)
10. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL)
11. Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFCL)^[26]

List of Navratna CPSUsEdit

1. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)
2. Container Corporation of India (CONCOR)
3. Engineers India Limited (EIL)
4. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
5. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL)
6. National Aluminium Company (NALCO)
7. National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC)
8. National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC)
9. NLC India Limited (Neyveli Lignite)
10. Oil India Limited (OIL)
11. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL)
12. Rural Electrification Corporation (REC)
13. Shipping Corporation of India (SCI)

List of Miniratna CPSUsEdit

Miniratna Category-I (61)

Miniratna Category-II (12)

1. Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India
2. Bharat Pumps & Compressors
3. Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited
4. Central Railside Warehouse Company Limited
5. Engineering Projects (India) Limited
6. FCI Aravali Gypsum and Minerals (India) Limited
7. Ferro Scrap Nigam Limited
8. HMT International Limited
9. Indian Medicines Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited
10. MECON
11. National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC)
12. Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited

List of other CPSEsEdit

List of Defense PSUsEdit

Nationalized banksEdit

Currently there are 12 Nationalised Banks in India (Government Shareholding power is denoted in %, as of 1 April 2020):

• State Bank of India (56.2%)
• Bank of Baroda (63.74%)
• Union Bank of India (86.75%)
• Punjab National Bank (85.58%)
• Canara Bank (72.55%)
• Punjab & Sind Bank (79.62%)
• Indian Bank (81.73%)
• Bank of Maharashtra (87.01%)
• Bank of India (87.0535%)
• Central Bank of India (88.02%)
• Indian Overseas Bank (95%)
• UCO Bank (93.29%)

Regional rural banksEdit

Currently there are 43 Regional Rural Banks in India, as of 1 April 2020:^[27]

Nationalized insurance companiesEdit

Currently there are 7 Nationalized Insurance Companies (Government Shareholding power denoted in %, as of 1 April 2020):

• Life Insurance Corporation of India(100%)
• General Insurance Corporation of India (85.78%)
• New India Assurance (85.44%)
• National Insurance Company(100%)
• The Oriental Insurance Company(100%)
• United India Insurance Company(100%)
• Agriculture Insurance Company of India(100%)

Nationalized Market exchangesEdit

Currently there are 28 Nationalized Financial Market Exchanges in India (Government Shareholding power denoted in %, as of 1 April 2020):

• National Stock Exchange of India
• National Spot Exchange
• Inter-connected Stock Exchange of India
• Metropolitan Stock Exchange
• Multi Commodity Exchange
• National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange
• Over the Counter Exchange of India
• Bombay Stock Exchange
• Calcutta Stock Exchange
• Hyderabad Securities and Enterprise Limited
• Coimbatore Stock Exchange
• Saurashtra Kutch Stock Exchange
• Mangalore Stock Exchange
• Cochin Stock Exchange
• Bangalore Stock Exchange
• Ludhiana Stock Exchange
• Gauhati Stock Exchange
• Bhubaneswar Stock Exchange
• Jaipur Stock Exchange
• Pune Stock Exchange
• Madras Stock Exchange
• Uttar Pradesh Stock Exchange
• Madhya Pradesh Stock Exchange
• Vadodara Stock Exchange
• Delhi Stock Exchange
• Ahmedabad Stock Exchange

• Indian company law
• List of Public service commissions in India